New spinach for a nickel, 1936. Notice the cigarette. Seattle Municipal Archives.

Greek clarinetist Nicholas Oeconamacos, who had performed under John Philip Sousa and the Seattle Symphony conductor Homer Hadley, returned to Seattle during the Great Depression to play for change on the street. Federal and regional funding also provided assistance for unemployed musicians, and the City Council sponsored outdoor concert series in the parks as one way to employ musicians. (Seattle PI photograph, 1931, courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry)